Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe says a Senate bill aiming to overhaul the Postal Service's financial structure by providing the agency more flexibility to price its products is a good first step. Donahoe has been calling on Congress to approve comprehensive postal reform for much of the last two years. In that time, the cash-strapped agency has posted losses of $20 billion and defaulted on more than $11 billion in payments to prefund retiree health care costs. USPS is set to default on a $5.6 billion payment due Sept. 30 payment, Donahoe said.

The nearly bankrupt U.S. Postal Service is moving ahead with plans to close and consolidate 229 mail-processing facilities. Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe (pictured) said the postal service can no longer wait for Congress to decide how to cut postal costs, and the processing network had simply become too big and too costly. The consolidations are expected to reduce the USPS workforce size by 28,000 employees.